1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to touch panels and, particularly, to a carbon nanotube based touch panel and a display device incorporating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Following the advancement in recent years of various electronic apparatuses such as mobile phones, car navigation systems and the like toward high performance and diversification, there is continuous growth in the number of electronic apparatuses equipped with optically transparent touch panels applied over display devices such as liquid crystal panels. The electronic apparatus is operated when contact is made with the touch panel corresponding to elements appearing on the display device. A demand thus exists for such touch panels to maximize visibility and reliability in operation.
At present, resistive, capacitive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave touch panels have been developed. Due to higher accuracy and low cost of production, resistive and capacitive touch panels have been most widely applied.
A resistive or capacitive touch panel often includes a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) used as an optically transparent conductive layer. The ITO layer is generally formed by ion beam sputtering, a relatively complicated undertaking Furthermore, the ITO layer has poor wearability, low chemical endurance and uneven resistance over the entire area of the panel, as well as relatively low transparency. Such characteristics of the ITO layer can significantly impair sensitivity, accuracy, and brightness.